Angul/ Bantala: With a big cat allegedly on the hunt at Satkosia in Angul district, the state government Saturday deployed forest and police personnel to ensure that the animal did not enter human habitation, officials said.
The Royal Bengal Tigress named ‘Sundari’ was brought from the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh and was released in the wild in the Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in August, the officials said.
It had allegedly mauled to death a woman of Hatibari village Wednesday and killed five cattle at Bipradi village near Athmallik forest range border Friday, they said.
The incident sparked widespread outrage as irate locals torched a forest range office, boats of forest department and a beat house.
They also staged road blockade demanding relocation of the tigress. However, officials declined the reports stating that the post-mortem report did not show any sign of an attack by the tigress.
The state government has deployed two teams of forest department and police personnel to stop the animal from entering human habitation, while a high level team of experts of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun reached Angul to take stock of the situation.
“The senior forest department officials and the experts of WII are talking to the people about the alleged activities of Sundari,” an official said.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Sudarshan Panda said two forest teams comprising of 10 field officers and police personnel have been deployed to monitor the movements of the tigress.
He said two Royal Bengal Tigers – one male and another female were released in the wild but complaints have been received only about ‘Sundari’, the tigress. The tigress is, however, not a man-eater and does not attack until humans intrude her territorial proximity.
The officials of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the National Tiger Conservation Authority will also visit Satkosia to take stock of the situation, Panda said.
As the locals have been demanding shifting of the tigress from Satkosia, Panda said the officials would submit a report to the state government after a thorough probe and monitoring of her activities. Decision on the relocation of the tigress will be taken after it.
“Until then the forest officials have been told to carry out all safety measures in order to stop Sundari from venturing into human settlements,” the additional PCCF said.
Male tiger ‘Kanha’, who too was brought from the Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh and released in the wild at the Satkosia Tiger Reserve within the sanctuary, is cohabiting with two other tigresses and maintaining its territory well, he added.
PNN
